Who developed the original Chicken McNuggets recipe for McDonald’s?

René Arend developed the original Chicken McNuggets recipe for McDonald’s.

Arend was McDonald’s executive chef when the company developed the bite-sized, breaded chicken product. He created a form that could be produced consistently, frozen, transported, and cooked quickly in restaurants. Chicken McNuggets were introduced nationally in the United States in 1983.

The product was designed to give McDonald’s a chicken item that fit its fast-food production system. The pieces are shaped, battered, breaded, and fried before serving, although the exact industrial process has changed over time.

Robert C. Baker is sometimes given as the answer because he was a major poultry scientist and developed earlier processed-chicken innovations, including chicken nuggets in a broader sense. He did not develop McDonald’s branded Chicken McNuggets. Ray Kroc founded McDonald’s as a major corporation but was not the recipe’s creator.